Back in 2014, I posted a slightly critical review of “The Dilemma of the Alcoholic Marriage” (item # B-4) & mentioned that if that book was ever discontinued, I would hope certain portions would at least continue to live on in another piece of literature. So I was very happy when news came out in…
📢 YouTube Announcement 📺
My next creative adventure this time has been to put the CAL Chat podcast on YouTube & it’s now officially ready to launch! I’ve learned a ton (aka: made a lot of mistakes 😜), but I’ve also been having a lot of fun with it. Here are some highlights of the channel: Full Anonymity ~ No…
CAL – Opening Our Hearts, Transforming Our Losses – Audiobook (Item # eA-29)
WHAT I LEARNED: 1. This audiobook version of “Opening Our Hearts” (item # eA-29) has been a long time coming! I first read about it being worked on from pages 107-108 of the “2015 World Service Conference Summary” (item # P-46) & on Sept 12th, 2022 it officially came out & man was it worth the…
CAL – One Day At A Time (Item # B-6) – NEW INTRO!
I was recently poking around the al-anon.org website today & found the brand new introduction created for the daily reader: “One Day At A Time In Al-Anon” (also known as: “ODAT”). For more about the interesting background on why this new intro was needed in the first place, check out the article “New Introduction for…
CAL – Al-Anon’s Best Sellers of 2021
A few weeks ago I recently received my hardcopy of the new “2022 World Service Conference Summary” (item # P-46). Pasted below are images from pages 80-81 that show some stats for 2021’s best selling Al-Anon books, booklets, and the “Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism 2021” (item # N/A) outreach magazine. It’s surprising that the book “Intimacy…
📣 Podcast Announcement: DEEP DIVE SHOW 🤿
I am happy to announce a brand new spin-off podcast show called “CAL Chat–DEEP DIVE” which will focus on a single piece of Al-Anon/Alateen literature over a series of episodes. The first episode features the inaugural “1961 World Service Conference Summary” (item # P-46) with a special guest, Evelyn, a current Area Delegate. Stay tuned…
📢 Announcement 📢
AT LAST! It’s announcement time! 📣 My next creative venture has taken me to Pinterest & if you’d like to follow along on my new journey, you can find me there @calchatfan or visit pinterest.com/calchatfan. One thing I really like is that I’m able to organize each post (or “pin”📌) into a category (or “board”). …
CAL – Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism 2008 (Item # N/A)
WHAT I LEARNED: 1. In keeping with the same printing schedule as the first “Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism 2007” that came out in September 2006, the subsequent annual edition, “Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism 2008,” debuted in the fall of 2007. (From 2007 to 2019, the outreach magazine had only 2 print runs each year, so Al-Anon members could…
CAL – Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism 2007 (Item # N/A)
Usually around February, my order of the new annual public outreach magazine, “Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism” arrives. However, it is now the middle of 2022, & I haven’t received an answer yet on whether there will even be a new issue for this year. I’m guessing that since the 2021 issue was the first time a…
PODCAST – How Al-Anon Works / Newcomer Packet (Item #’s B-32, B-22, eA-22, & eB-22 / K-10)
Way back on July 1st, 2016, I posted the very first episode of my “CAL Chat” podcast, but I never did an official blog post about it…. until now! How many different types of Newcomer Packets are available? Which one pamphlet does Michael find helpful to read before his second Al-Anon meeting? How can forgiveness…
PODCAST – From Survival To Recovery / How Al-Anon Works (Item #’s B-21 / B-32, B-22, & eA-22)
Episode 13 of my “CAL Chat” podcast is now available to listen to! How is a pandemic similar to recovery? What Al-Anon audiobooks are available? Can a book also be a picture frame? (To hear this episode, please visit the show’s website at: calchatpodcast.com – or you can subscribe to it for free wherever you…
CAL – How Al-Anon Works – Audiobook (Item # eA-22)
My next “CAL Chat” podcast guest mentioned that “How Al-Anon Works” (item # B-32) was her favorite piece to use for outreach purposes that she wanted to discuss on the new upcoming Episode #13. To prepare, I was going to re-read it but then I thought, “How could I do it differently this time?” So…
CAL – Updated Al-Anon Service Guidelines for 2021 (Various Item #’s)
On October 6th, 2021, I got an interesting update from Al-Anon’s World Service Office’s (the WSO) newsletter “In The Loop” that mentioned: “We are excited to announce that we are in the process of updating the Al-Anon/Alateen Guidelines! In addition to getting a fresh, new look, the guidelines will also reflect updated information. A milestone…
CAL – The Forum Writing Guideline (Item # F-1)
Next week I’ll be posting an update on several Al‑Anon guidelines that have been revised this year. However while I was researching those, it led me to this guideline for The Forum that was very recently updated – just last month, in October 2021, in fact! It got me wondering, 🤔 “What changed exactly?” See…
CAL – Al-Anon’s Best Sellers of 2019
WHAT I LEARNED: This week I recently received my hardcopy of the new “2021 World Service Conference Summary” (item # P-46). I was looking over the graphs of the bestselling CAL books and booklets for 2020 (see link at the end of this post) and it got me wondering about how that compared to sales…
CAL – Al-Anon’s Best Sellers of 2020
This week I recently received my hardcopy of the new “2021 World Service Conference Summary” (item # P-46). Pasted below are images from pages 85-87 that show some stats for 2020’s best selling Al-Anon books, booklets, and the “Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism 2020” (item # N/A) outreach magazine. I find it interesting to see how the…
"CAL Chat" Blog ~My journey in Al-Anon~ 